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Monday, June 5, 2017

The
British Tamils Forum (BTF) and US Tamil Political Action Council
(USTPAC) express deep concern over reports of intimidation and
disruption of the peaceful protests in NorthEast Sri Lanka by the Sri
Lankan armed forces. The protest by the relatives of the missing
persons has marked 100 days today and is continuing.

In its Resolution 30/1 on Sri Lanka the UN Human Rights Council (HRC)
requested the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
to continue to assess progress in the implementation of its
recommendations and other relevant processes related to reconciliation,
accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka, and to present an oral
update to the Council at its thirty-second session and a comprehensive
report at its thirty-fourth session.

At the 34th session of the HRC this March, the government of Sri Lanka
reaffirmed its commitments to implement HRC/30/1 by cosponsoring
Resolution 34/1. At this session, the High Commissioner for Human
Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein called for a comprehensive strategy by the
government of Sri Lanka that enables the government to pursue the
different transitional justice processes in a coordinated, integrated
and appropriately sequenced manner. He further stated that OHCHR
continues to stand ready to provide further advice and technical
assistance. The High Commissioner mentioned that the Human Rights
Council will sustain its close engagement in Sri Lanka.

Despite all its promises made to the High Commissioner and the member
states of the HRC, the government of Sri Lanka has made no progress in
ascertaining the whereabouts of the tens of thousands of persons missing
during the ethnic conflict. The kith and kin of the missing have been
protesting for the past 100 days in Killinochchi, and their protest has
attracted mass support in the NorthEast. We call upon the HRC to
intervene promptly and push the Sri Lankan government to take immediate
action to implement, at a minimum, what was promised through the
resolutions they co-sponsored at the HRC.

As noted by the High Commissioner on previous occasions, promising and
then not delivering still continues in Sri Lanka. Hence BTF and USTPAC
request the HRC to send high level representatives immediately to talk
to the protesters directly. We have been reliably informed that the
government has deployed police and intelligence personnel to break up
the protest. They have also mooted setting up yet another commission,
despite the already legislated and funded “Office of Missing Persons
(OMP)” remaining non-operational.

BTF and USTPAC call upon the UN Human Rights Council to,

a) Request the High Commissioner or his high-level representatives
to visit the protestors in Killinochchi to stop the intimidation of the
people who are already traumatised not knowing the fate of their kith
and kin.

b) Immediately establish an OHCHR Office in the NorthEast.

c) Oversee the setting up of a credible mechanism to trace the missing persons.

d) Assist Sri Lanka to publicise a comprehensive list of people who
surrendered during the last phase of the civil war in 2009 – listing
the names of all who were detained or arrested, those who are still in
custody (names, locations of detention centres), those who have been
released, and, if released, to whom they were released.

e) Obtain from Sri Lanka a comprehensive strategy with a
“time-bound plan” to implement in full the government of Sri Lanka’s
obligations per Resolution 30/1.